Caught Up in the Moment
by valvalstone
Summary: Not everything goes according to plan. What happens if Artemis really died? What will happen? Takes place during the episode 'Darkest'. One-Shot. Starring Artemis, Kaldur, Nightwing and Wally


**Caught Up in the Moment**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

**Summary: Things happen all the time but not everything goes according to the plan.**

**Additional Notes: What if Artemis really dies? What would've happened? This story takes place in the middle of the episode 'Depths' when Artemis starts to fight. If u haven't seen this episode yet, it might spoil it. I know I'm in the middle of another story but I needed to get this idea finished.**

CAPE CANAVERAL  
MARCH 19

20:40 EDT

Artemis POV

I can't believe the thrill I'm having. Taking down bad guys, different stunts and shots with my old bow. I guess that's what Wally was trying to avoid. I don't exactly know the plan after I "die" but Nightwing said he would fill me in after I get on board with Kaldur. Wally didn't want me to help Nightwing and the team out with this mission but I knew I had to. Besides, what could go wrong?

As the light from my arrow dimmed in the sky, Nightwing and I made our move, I looked over to see Dick taking down several bad guys as fallen debris from exploded missiles plummeted to earth around us. I fought a few guys down with different arrows. It was great to be fighting side by side with Dick again. It reminded me of the time we faced the Reds together but that was years ago. One guy started shooting at me but fell to the ground as I knocked the gun out of his hands and punched him hard. I pulled back on the strings of my bow to shoot at someone else. Something told me to turn around so I did and just in the neck of time, I glanced over to see a trooper coming at me with a knife. I managed to round-house kick him at the last minute and shot him in the chest with an arrow to knock the wind out of him to make sure he was down. I have to say that was a close call. I noticed Nightwing looking at me surprised and slightly scared like an over protective sibling but…I wouldn't know that feeling.

"What? I'm not THAT rusty," I said to him on the psychic link with half a grin on my face.

Suddenly, my smile dropped and looked behind Nightwing. He turned to face where I was looking. We paused as we noticed something or someone emerging from the water. It was Kaldur. Everything was going according to plan so far but our job wasn't finished yet.

"Kaldur, you don't want to do this." I yelled at him. It sounded believable to me.

"I believe I do!" he used his Atlantian sorcery and created a large serpent out of water that crashed onto Nightwing with a hundred pounds of force. Then, I saw it come after me. I knew I couldn't run fast enough so I froze as the water slammed against me like a car. It reminded me of the time I almost drowned 3 different days in a row. I could tell he wasn't going to take it easy on us.

I blacked out for a moment but the next thing I knew, I was Comsat was taking off sooner than expected. I could hear the explosion of the rocket as it started to leave the surface of the earth. It was almost deafening. Kaldur mumbling something to his troops and sent a mini missile after it from the shoulder of his uniform. I got up and shot a heat seeking missile towards it.

It exploded the mini missile at the last second. "No rust on me," I said in a cocky tone to myself. I just saved the communication launch between two planets… I feel amazing.

"Artemis, behind you!" Nightwing yelled at me, snapping me out of my self pride state. Kaldur'ahm was coming after me with mallets made out of water. Dick ran to him, trying to protect me. Kaldur missed the first swing, going right over Nightwing's head but the second swing hit him in the ribs with a powerful enough blow to knock him far to the side.

I was next.

I stood ready for the attack. Kaldur first hit my bow out of the way from me. This is the perfect opportunity for a reverse punch. He hit my arm with the mallet and knocked it to where he caught my arm between his arm and ribs. I noticed the water turn from a mallet to a spear. To me, it seemed in slow motion but I guess it's because of how fast my heart was racing.

I heard a squish sound and felt a pain in my stomach. I guess it was the force of the spear against me… no… this isn't right.

We practiced this before and it didn't hurt…he really did it…

"Welcome back."

Everything became a blur as tears started to form in my eyes.

'Welcome back'

The words echoed in my head.

'Welcome back'

It was getting harder to breath

'Welcome back…'

Nightwing's POV

I got off the ground after being knocked over. The pain in my side vanished finally. I looked over as Kaldur pulled the spear out of Artemis. Blood covered it. Something went wrong. _I_ was supposed to put the fake blood on her. Not him!... It isn't fake.

"Artemis!" She was stumbling backwards gasping for air. I could see the fear in her eyes.

"I got you," I said as she fell back into my arms. She sighed and I knew she fainted from the pain. I gently placed her on the ground and observed her wound. I tried to keep her heartbeat going until we could get medical attention. Every 10 beats I gave her mouth to mouth, trying to keep her breathing.

Kaldur's POV

What have I done? I looked down at the scene before me. Nightwing giving Artemis mouth to mouth as her bleeding body lie there…lifeless. I felt tears coming to my eyes but I had no time to grieve. I had to maintain my cover…What have I done?

"Move out. The Mission is a failure." An explosion occurred. I looked to find that the Comsat was having a technical error. It exploded right before my eyes. I was shocked. Nothing was going the way it was planned.

"We are done here." I glanced over at Nightwing and Artemis one last time before I swam away back to our HQ. I didn't mean to do that to Artemis. I guess I was just caught up in the moment and really did treat her like an enemy.

Nightwing's POV

I counted the number of pumps in my head. 22, 23… Please . We lost the Comsat and La'gonn. Please don't go. 24, 25, 26… I could feel tears filling my eyes underneath my mask. I heard Superboy and M'gann rush over behind me.

"I-I can't hear her heartbeat," Superboy was definitely not helping right now. That's not what I needed to hear right now.

"28, 29, …" I started counting out loud. When I reached 30, I gave her mouth to mouth again. I thought about what Superboy said. I knew I had to stop. I knew she was gone.

I looked at her, then looked away. I tried to revive her. It didn't work. I knew this was a risky mission. It's all my fault. What will everyone say? What will Wally say…?

"She's dead," was all I could say. I felt tears drop from under my mask. I noticed M'gann start to sob behind me. Superboy was quiet and hardly showed expression. I don't know how I'm going to tell everyone.

Palo Alto

March 20

2:46 PDT

Regular POV

Dick has just arrived at Wally and Artemis's apartment in Palo Alto. He has hoped to make it before Wally left for their scheduled meeting in_ Blüdhaven_. He knocked on the door. Wally opened the door surprised to see his friend Dick Grayson. He walked inside uninvited.

"Wally, we need to talk." He put a hand on Wally's shoulder.

"Um…yea," he knocked his hand away, "we were going to meet-"

"No, we need to talk now." He walked to the other side of the couch. "Have a seat. I need to tell you about something."

Wally, noticing something was wrong, asked, "Where's Artemis?"

Nightwing stayed quiet.

Wally thought this was very strange and the worst came to his mind but nothing he thought of was as bad as what he heard.

"Artemis... she's gone. There was an incident with Kaldur and something didn't go the way it was planned." He tried to defend Kaldur'ahm.

Wally didn't know what to think. He tried to slap himself to wake up. "No, no this isn't happening. Tell me this isn't happening."

"I wish I could."

Wally sat against the wall. "Where's aqualad?" His sadness turned to rage as he realized it was all his fault. "WHERE IS HE!?"

"He's waiting at our meeting point in _Blüdhaven_. He said he was going to explain everything there."

Wally hands tightened into fists as more tears dropped from his eyes. He punched the wall next to him and wrecked the room knocking over the TV and flipping the coffee table. He soon stopped and fell to the ground. "I had the chance to stop her this morning. I shouldn't have let her go. It's all my fault. I could've stopped her but she insisted. '_What could go wrong?_' was the last thing she said to me."

"It's not your fault. It's mostly mine. I'm the one who planned her fake death. I didn't mean for it to be a reality. I told aqualad-"

"Aqualad" he interrupted, "I'LL KILL HIM!"

"NO, Wally Don't!"

"He ruined everything. I loved her. I had plans for us together and now it's all ruined!" Wally screamed at Dick in anger and burst out the door. He had managed to vibrate his molecules through the door without getting a bloody nose and took off as fast as he could towards _Blüdhaven._

_Hope you liked it. Its just a little something my brain barfed up and I needed to post it. Comment and tell me what you think._


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